I like to think my experiences are more than science based as well. Especially considering I didn't have my corrective surgery until I was 11 and my first childhood encounter was a few years prior. I do suppose patience is necessary...sometimes it can be harder to see the obvious when you're actively seeking it. FWIW, I do have dreams about by pets that have passed on too and greatly enjoy them. It feels like brief reunions, whether it's just my subconscious or a deeper spiritual encounter doesn't matter to me. As for swimming, I swam competitively from 4th-6th grade then had to ease back into it after my surgery, but I'm convinced that it helped speed my recovery. I was back in shape by 8th grade and swam competitively again through high school graduation in the 50m and 200m medley. We have a pool in our backyard so I can swim pretty much daily now from April through November, then it's too cold for me, but it's only 15x30ft. so my small 5'3" frame only gets three good butterfly strokes before a flipturn...not a lot of room.
The fact that the first encounter happened prior to your surgery definitely leaves room for interpretation. It's strange how sometimes you just 'click' with some animals (kinda like with some people; one handshake and you instantly know you'll become good friends). The last time that happened to me was with one of the horses my wife grooms; he was a 13yo (or so) gelding and just had the sweetest personality (all he wanted to do was eat and sleep and, on occasion, do show jumping even though he was a dressage horse), and we just hit it off instantly. I loved taking him out for walks and even though I only got to hang out with him less than a dozen times, he left such an imprint, I still miss him sometimes (he died a few years back). Dreams are another strange part of the world. The night our grandfather died, my sister woke up in the middle of the night because she couldn't breathe even though we live in Finland and he lived all the way in Bulgaria. It had never happened before and hasn't happened since, but that was a bit suspicious to be just a coincidence. And yeah, it makes sense any kind of deeper connection happens when you least expect it. Kinda like love, corny as it sounds; just when I gave up on ever finding it, bam, I met @KaTrian. I started swimming when I was 9, but I didn't compete much 'cause I was such a shy kid back then. I did swim actively all the way until I was 20 or so (except I took a year's break when I was 17), but then I moved far away from swimming halls and didn't really continue until in recent years. I noticed it helps a lot with my back pain (I have a couple of degenerated discs so they can't withstand the pressure of sitting or standing, so especially upper body -heavy swimming, which is my style anyway, helps stretch the spine which, in turn, creates space between the discs and lessens the pain). Not to mention the added benefits of being fit and, of course, it's great for cutting weight (trying to shed any excess pounds 'cause the lighter I am, the less strain it is for my back, i.e. less pain). I just realized this post has absolutely nothing to do with tattoos, so maybe it's best if we take it back on-topic. Um, maybe, uh, er, it's not a good idea to go swimming immediately after taking a tattoo. Right. Yep.
Aww Have you had any encounters with other horses that might lead you to believe there is more of a signficance? Animals really can leave imprints on us...my son's middle name is partially after my favorite dog that I lost to cancer back in 2008. People get a good laugh out of that and I don't care one bit! I moved across the country when I was 14 and less than a year later my best friends mother was diagnosed with cancer that had spread quickly from her ovaries to her liver and then brain. One night I had a dream that she came to visit and see our new house and wish me luck...the next morning I woke up to email my friend about it and before I had a chance, there was an email from her dad letting us know she'd passed in the middle of the night. That was definitely a strange experience. Yup, just like love. You and @KaTrian are just too cute, lol. Yeah, it definitely eases the pressure. I have 13 screws in my vertebrae and two titanium rods on each side that keep my spine straight. Most of the time they don't bother me but sometimes I get pain doing the most unusual things, turning a certain way or lifting from a strange position - and it usually doesn't show up until the next morning. The worst is my sciatica. When I was 7 months preggo with #1 I tripped over a parking block and got a pinched nerve. That bothers me sometimes after a 5k but swimming is the best thing to relieve the pain. It hurts to push through it but helps in the end. And yeah...tattoos...no overly submerging news ones in chlorinated or saltwater until completely healed...minimum 2 weeks, preferably closer to a month to be safe.
That is one HECK of a great story. Even more so, because it's true. Is it common for sea creatures to be totem animals?
@T.Trian Primus? I've worn my hair every which way. Wore it clean shaved for two years, 'til I got fed up having to wet shave every morning before I went to work. If you have sufficiently thick hair, undercuts are fine, not so good a look on finer hair unless there's a lot of it. 'Mohawk'-wise I've had it long, and partially beaded and braided, worn down rather than up. I also had a fairly cutsie looking one, about 3 inches, shaved quite high and bleached peroxide. Never had the urge to get my scalp tattooed. I'm hoping I'll see in old age in with long, white hair and I like being able to cover my tatts if I choose to. The only tatts I can't readily conceal are the ones on my left hand... a wedding band and a design on the underside of my thumb and palm.
@sunsplash: That's an amazing story about finding a spirit animal. I'm pretty sure mine is a dog. Actually, a tiny puppy I found one night I was walking back from a club when I was about 15. He looked like a little teddybear and I took him in. I already felt extraordinary connection with dogs, and was begging my parents to let me have him. Well, they refused. My family was very violent and despotic, so as hard as I tried, I had to return him to the street. I was badly traumatised by that. The little guy still haunts me, I get flashbacks of holding him, him rolling towards me in a stream of water, and running after me as I has to leave him. I will never forgive myself for that. I wish I was brave enough to run away from home with him. I did run away six months later, but I was too late, I never saw that dog again. But since then, I see dogs all the time, they respond amazingly to me, I rescue them, I keep them and probably the dearest being to me ever, was my old dog Maggie who passed away in 2012. Dogs come to me in dreams all the time, various dogs I had, and others I never met.
You know the band? That's cool. Claypool has his boat's name, 'El Bastardo,' tattooed on the side of his head 'cause he used to have the sides shaved. I think I know way too much trivia info of that band...
You know, I have no idea. I really don't have much experience with them outside of my own. That is such a bittersweet story, so sweet and sad at the same time. I love dogs, too...great companions!
I've got one, it's the signature of a dear friend who was in a car accident with me and died a few months ago. It's on my collarbone. Other than that, I have always wanted an Alice in Wonderland sleeve.
Adm. Dean Winslow: Oh, don't think like that! Damn it to hell, don't go by the book, think like a pirate! I want a man with a tattoo on his d**k! Have I got the right man? From the terrible movie "Down Periscope." No tattoos here, but I do like to see good, non-cliche tattoos on people, just not this old fart.
I want to get a couple of tattoos but I'm afraid I will get in to trouble later. Like finding a job or so.
I don't have any, I don't like them - 99.9999999 of the time. Rarely, though, I'll see a tattoo I'll think is awesome.
I'm going to get a tattoo of a unicorn with a beach-ball popped on its horn with rainbow spilling out of the deflated ball onto the ground with the caption, "Even the most majestic animals have shitty days." That, or a dolphin raping a sea turtle. I can't decide.
I've got a celtic band on my left arm I got when I was seventeen, I've got vincit qui se vincit on my right inner forearm, I have my wife's name on the same upper arm on a scroll in a love heart in an olde sailor style. Finally, I have Morrison after Jim Morrison on my back at my right shoulder (I got it both in tribute to the man but predominantly in memory of my best friend who died last year of Motor Neurone Disease and had that tattooed in the same place.)
A true cautionary tale, from the evening news. There is a young man who has the word "MURDER" tattooed in reverse the entire height and width of his neck as seen from the front, and he desperately wants it removed. The reason? It will make it so much harder to prevail in his upcoming jury trial - for murder. (I also noticed he has a teardrop tattoo beneath the outer corner of his left eye. He should probably get that one removed as well)
Good grief... here's me taking part in a thread in a writing forum on the subject of tattoos and I have a tatt I forgot to mention and it's probably the most relevant. I can't swivel my leg around to get a good pic, so I'll refer to source instead. 'Greebo could, in fact, commit sexual harrassment simply by sitting very quietly in the next room.' Maskerade - Terry Pratchett
Sorry for pulling a necro on this thread, but since it's not too old.... What's Your take on more extreme body modifications?
@Wreybies, I'd have to say they scare me. Tattoos, piercings, even scar tattoos and branding I get. Stuffing a metal pipe through your guts as a piece of jewelry or cutting off your arms to look cool... not my thing, even without the hyperbole. But if someone likes it, all the power to them. Still, might be a good idea not to advertise it to kids/portray it as something cool in front of your children at least until they're old enough to realize the ramifications of such modifications. ETA: Then again, that goes for all body modifications, but at least a tattoo doesn't change your life as permanently/significantly as some of the extreme mods.
The subderman implants I was just starting to see when I graduated university, a little over 10 years ago. All I could think was how much it would hurt to knock that implant against something.
@Wreybies, that's the reason why I don't have any piercings either: I've heard too many horror stories about how badly piercings and sports/martial arts mix.
The progressive in me wants to not care, raise a fist in the air, and scream "power to the people!" but in all honesty...a lot of them bother me. At least the ones on the face/in the eyes and I feel that way about tattoos there as well. I'd never heard of that eye implant one until a few months ago when there was an article somewhere (huffpost?) about a Russian girl who got the little heart one shown in the video. The subdermal implants on the hands and elsewhere make me raise an eyebrow but it wouldn't be a topic I'd feel the need to gossip with others about. The forehead injection thing is completely new to me and my first thought was how would people with disorders like hydrocephalus feel? It may not be intended to be offensive but I could see some taking it that way.
